Ben Tsutomu Kawamura

July 7, 1948 - Aug 14, 2020

Ben Tsutomu Kawamura passed away on August 14, 2020 at the age of 72. Born in Phoenix, Arizona on July 7, 1948, to Takiko and Dentaro Kawamura, Ben lived most of his adult life in Berkeley, California.

After graduating from Alhambra High School in Phoenix, Ben attended UC Berkeley and also Arizona State University, earning a BA in Secondary Education. Many, many years later, Ben fulfilled his dream of earning a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School of Government. After teaching history on the Navajo Reservation in Canyon de Chelly, Arizona for four years, he moved to San Francisco to work for Asia Inc., a nonprofit company that aided minority small businesses to secure contracts. Soon after, he began his civil servant career working as a purchasing manager for the City and County of San Francisco and later, as the supervising purchaser for the San Francisco International Airport. Ben served in the California National Guard as a Specialist Four 146th Combat Support Hospital.

Ben was full of life and enjoyed sharing his passions with his family and friends. He loved new adventures and travel, and with a desire to learn more about his Japanese roots and culture, he arranged several trips to Japan with family members and friends. He enriched his enjoyment of playing tennis by traveling to see the New York Open, French Open, and Wimbledon tennis tournaments. Ben also enjoyed swimming, hiking, biking, snow skiing, tending to his garden, cooking, giving parties for his friends, and collecting post cards. After retirement, his passion became playing pickleball. He became an ambassador of the benefits of playing pickleball and would teach anyone who wanted to learn the sport, volunteering to teach PE teachers and middle school students. He was a strong advocate in encouraging nearby cities to build more pickleball courts.

Ben was a loving, caring brother to Hideo Kawamura (Jane), Kimiko Inoshita (Tom), Tomi Nagahori (Fred), Mineko Tominaga (Jim), Eiko Uyehara, and Junko Kajita (Tim). He was a playful and energetic uncle to nineteen nieces and nephews and twenty-one grand nieces and nephews. Ben was preceded in death by his parents, Takiko and Dentaro Kawamura and by an older brother, Hiroshi Kawamura (Pam). He was also kind and thoughtful to many, many lifelong friends and new found pickleball friends. Ben was gentle, generous, and a giant in his own way, although he didn’t know it. He was greatly loved and will be dearly missed.

Funeral/memorial services will be held virtually at a date yet to be determined. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in memory of Ben Kawamura to the American Heart Association at www.heart.org/honor Contributions may also be made to a fund established for Pickleball Courts in Albany, CA, Ben’s final passion. C/O Cathy Taruskin Ocean View Pickleball. The Venmo account is username Cathy-Taruskin or via PayPal. cathytaruskin@yahoo.com